Our latest Mystery Guest was indeed the enigmatic Hildegarde Knef (alternately known as Hildegarde Neff). Although she labored in the shadow of her obvious predecessor and contemporary, Marlene Dietrich, Knef became something of an institution in her own right in her native Germany. Success in America proved more elusive, although she made a splash on Broadway in Silk Stockings, Cole Porter's musical adaptation of the Garbo film comedy Ninotchka. Knef's Hollywood swan song was in Billy Wilder's campy return to Sunset Boulevard territory, Fedora (1978), which found her playing a reclusive screen queen opposite an extremely aged William Holden, many years and bottles beyond Joe Gillis. If anything, Knef may be better known and better loved for her late-career transition to smoky chanteuse in the 1960's; her throaty, expressive voice was equally at home with American jazz standards as it was with Knef's self-penned material; Ella Fitzgerald called her the "best singer without a voice," which is as apt a description as any.
The first visitor to correctly guess Ms. Knef was the equally enigmatic Labuanbajo, who gets to make a complete tour (encompassing the east, west, north and south) of all of you. Be prepared.
I remember watching Fedora on HBO's Late Late Early Late showing. My mother insisted on watching it as well - saying William Holden "could put his shoes under her bed any day."
ReplyDeleteAll I remember about the film was some lady screaming "Fedora!" then throwing herself in front of a train. My mother said "if I were starring in this dog I'd throw myself in front that train, too."
They never did find the hat, either...
Fantastic! I can put a face to the words now - am reading her amazing and poetic autobiography "Gift Horse." Thank oyu fo these shots. Are they Avedon? (your blog turned up with my google search for Avedon and Ms Knef.
ReplyDeleteI am finishing "Gift Horse" as well, I found it in my mother's book collection after she passed. She shared her first name and youth having survived World War II as a young German girl but their stories split since she came to America as the bride of an American serviceman, not a expat actress trying to break into Hollywood. The book is remarkable in it's honesty, detailed memories of the American and German film and theater industries, but most of all the writing. The book is beautifully written making Knef even more remarkable as an amazing author, actress, and singer. I wish I had found this book earlier when my mother was still alive, she so rarely spoke about the dark days of survival and degradation right after the war that this could have helped open up a great conversation about her past.
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